Halloween Coffin Cake

With all hallows eve upon us, I have taken a festive diversion from my normal blog posts to feature my sister's fantastically morbid, and yet completely guilt free, Halloween coffin cake. In her case she made it for her kids Halloween party, but as this is the only time of year when you can get away with serving a slice of deathly black, RIP cake to your grandmother, I think now is the perfect time to throw caution to the wind and replace whatever average pudding you had planned for this evenings dinner, with this fiendishly good cake, bringing a whole new meaning to the phrase 'death by chocolate'!
Using a few naturally healthy ingredients like spelt flour, dark chocolate and coconut palm sugar; you can easily make a 'guilt free' cake that is still wickedly indulgent tasting.

40cm x 25cm Roasting tray
Large flat tray wrapped with foil or coloured paper to serve the cake on

Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Line the bottom of the roasting tray with parchment paper and lightly butter with some of the non-dairy butter.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the milk, sweet potato, and vanilla extract. Using an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs, one at a time. Reduce the mixer speed to low and alternately beat in the flour and milk mixtures in thirds.
Pour the batter into the prepared roasting tray and bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, it will be about 35 minutes depending on your oven. Cool the cake completely in the tin and then turn out carefully, using the edges of the parchment paper to help you.

While the cake is in the oven make the icing. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the base of the bowl does not touch the water. Take the pot off the heat, but keep the bowl over the hot water and add the rest of the ingredients, beating them into the melted chocolate until completely smooth.

Using a large knife cut the cake into the shape of a coffin and position on the flat tray. Keep the trimmings of the cake for later. While the icing is still warm, completely ice the cake and smooth out evenly. Decorate the cake with silver sugar craft balls, using them to line the edge of the coffin and spell out the letters RIP in the centre. Place the sugar craft flowers on top of the coffin.

Crumble up the trimmings of the cake and scatter them around the coffin so it looks like soil. You can nestle jelly snakes and worms into the crumbled cake for added effect!